Rick Acton Memorial Bursary to the Fraser Academy

Marg & Ian Acton, wife & son of the late Rick Acton, former RCVA member, visited us today to express their appreciation and the grateful thanks of the Fraser Academy recipients of our annual Rick Acton Memorial Bursary.

For our newer members, here is some biographical information on Rick Acton:

Former Institute of Chartered Accountants of British Columbia (ICABC) president Richard Keith Acton, FCA, passed away on May 27th from complications following a single-lung transplant he received in 2003. He was 57 years old.

Rick became a member of the CA profession in 1975 while articling with the Vancouver firm of Winspear Higgins Stevenson & Co. Though he soon left the firm to work as an internal auditor with the Bank of BC, Rick returned to public practice a year later, joining the office of Coopers & Lybrand (now PricewaterhouseCoopers) in Freeport, Bahamas. After a subsequent return to Vancouver, he launched his own practice in 1977.

Though he retired from the partnership of Acton Gunderson in 2002, Rick continued to remain active in the CA profession—most recently volunteering at the national level with the Association of Insured CA firms on matters involving insurance and liability.

In addition to his ICABC service, Rick was very active in the community, volunteering with the Dunbar 25th Scouts for over ten years and serving as a member of the Arbutus Rotary Club and the BC Transplant Society's donor awareness program.

Rick's death at such a young age is truly a profound loss for his family, his colleagues, his friends, and the CA profession. Rick is survived by Marg, his wife of 28 years; his mother Olive; and his sons Keith (20) and Iain (17) - [as of 2005 ~ed]. In his memory, the Acton family would like to encourage people to indicate their wishes on the BC Transplant donor form. To register as an organ donor, go to www.transplant.bc.ca or call 604-877-2240 locally/1-800-663-6189 toll free.